Fire in the Blood
by Azrael - the Dark Archangel
Summary: Roxas has learnt many things that humans were never meant to know. Vampires are real, magic is real, but the worst is still to come. He is standing in the middle of a storm, and that storm is about to break. Roxas x Axel. AU.
1. Prologue

A

A.N. This story has been in the works a long time. In its orginal form it was the first fanfic I ever wrote, and Axel was a nice vampire. Didn't really like that version. The second version was slightly better; most references to vampire culture were removed and it was going to be mostly set in the human world. And still I wasn't happy. Paticularly not with vampire!Axel, because I could sense there was something missing. And then I saw Hellsing for the first time, and I realized what had been wrong. Suddenly the whole story turned around and Axel became a combination of Alucard (of Hellsing), the sadistic side of Fullmetal Alchemist's Envy, and Saix as he is portrayed in "Sephiroth's Guide to Love and Deception" (with traces of both Ansem and Riku from "Break Me, Shake Me"). Enjoy!

Warnings: This chapter is pretty tame. There's only a slight bit of violence, and Axel being ever so slightly suggestive. But I warn you, later on this will get dark. Barely consensual sex, torture, S & M, bondage, violence, the lot. You have been warned. And if it is not yet obvious THIS IS YAOI! Deal with it.

Pairings: Ultimately Akuroku, Soriku, Zemyx, Cleon, Marxene (Marluxia and Larxene), MarluxiaxNamine and possibly other pairings yet to be added.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Kindgdom Hearts 2 or anything associated. They all belong to Square Enix, as does Final Fantasy.

* * *

The sun slowly drifted below the horizon as evening came to Traverse Town. As the last traces of sunlight faded from the sky a tall man stepped out of an alley, his black coat concealing him amongst the shadows already there.

Cracking his knuckles he took a quick look around while shading his eyes with his arm. Satisfied, he pushed the hood back slightly, revealing emerald eyes dancing with anticipation.

"Well," he chuckled as a cruel smile blossomed across his face, "Let the hunt begin."

Casting another quick look around to ensure he was alone, he took a short run-up and jumped effortlessly onto the roof of one of the second story buildings surrounding the alley, then vanished into the night.

* * *

Only a few streets away a short blond walked through the darkening streets, cursing his misfortune. He had broken curfew yet again working his second job, and his father was going to thrash him. His fists involuntarily clenched at the thought of his bastard of a parent, prompting him to take a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm down. Walking through the abandoned street, he started as voice rang out of the shadows.

"Well now," a harsh voice slurred through to much drink said, "What do we have 'ere? A pampered little brat who's all alone in the big bad city."

An arm wrapped around his neck and covered his mouth as his attacker held a small knife against his jugular, and Roxas began breathing heavily as the throat-lock reminded him of the harsh beating that was waiting for him at home.

"Don't go screaming for help," the big man holding him warned, "'Cause if you did you'd be bleedin' your little 'eart out on the pavement and I'd be long gone before help arrived."

Roxas shuddered as the knife pricked his skin, the bead of blood sliding down the blade causing memories of past beatings to flash through his mind.

"Now, 'and over your valuables all quiet like," the mugger warned darkly, "And old Jack won't have to hurt anyone."

The blond whimpered and starting struggling as the memories became too much to take, past suffering starting to blend with the painful grip on his neck. Starting to hyperventilate, Roxas almost welcomed the pain that the man was causing, the shortness of breath and sharp pain of the knife the only thing keeping him grounded in reality enough to keep breathing.

"Oh well," Jack shrugged, digging the knife into his victim's skin, a thin trickle of blood flowing down his the boys neck, "People are easier to search when their dead anyway."

As footsteps began to sound, the mugger clutched Roxas closer and removed the knife, holding it out in front of him as his eyes narrowed angrily. As a small break in the cloud-cover let moonlight glint off the blade, a deep, rich chuckle echoed through the alley.

"You poor, pathetic human." A voice murmured, the soft sound perfectly audible in the silence. "I would find my friends obsession with your kind almost laughable if it weren't so pitiful."

Soft footsteps began to ring out as the laughter continued, and a vague form began to from the shadows in front of them.

"Not that it matters," the voice continued as the clouds drifted back in front of the moon, recovering the alley in darkness. "Inflicting pain, I find, is far more enjoyable when the recipient is someone you despise."

Jack, beginning to suspect the stranger of wanting his victims money for himself, brandished the knife at the barely visible figure.  
"Leave me alone," he called, voice trembling with rage, "I'm warning you, if you don't find somewhere else to stick your nose into then I'll be sticking you."

As the figure continued towards them Roxas started to tremble, and Jack's grip on the knife handle tightened.

"Yes," the voice replied, "You've got a weapon." Amusement gave the strangers voice a sardonic edge as he asked mockingly, "Are you sure you're not going to hurt yourself, playing around with it like it's a toy?"

Jack stiffened, then lunged forward as anger momentarily overcame common sense, and blinked in shock when he continued with no resistance, passing straight through the deceptively shaped shadow. As Jack stood there, gazing around for the source of the voice, a dark figure dropped from the roof of one of the buildings on the side of the alleyway, a pale hand latching on to his wrist.

"Hello Jack."

The stranger started to chuckle as he watched Jack tremble, and a sadistic grin began to spread across his face. Still laughing he began to squeeze, and as the mugger started to whimper, his smile continued to grow, the slightest gleam of moonlight shining off ivory fangs.

"Now, now, now," he chuckled, "Surely you know that it's not nice-" his grip tightened mercilessly and Jack let out a scream, "- to go around picking on poor defenceless children who are all alone in the night." tighten

With one last brutal squeeze, he clenched his hand into a fist and Roxas could clearly hear Jack's wrist shatter. The stranger let go of the mugger's wrist and grabbed the front of his shirt, and brought his mouth close to his ear.

"Especially cute blond ones like this one," he whispered before sinking his fangs into Jacks jugular.

Roxas just stood there in shock, watching the stranger over the body of his would-be assailant. A few seconds later the stranger finally let Jack's limp, pale body drop to the ground and looked at Roxas, pushing his hood back to reveal emerald-green eyes and flame-red hair. Wiping away the trickle of blood running down the side of his mouth, he gave Roxas an arrogant smirk.

"So blondie," he asked, "I rescue you and I don't even get a name?"

Roxas blushed and looked down at his feet.

"M'not blondie," he mumbled, "I'm Roxas."

"Well Roxas," the stranger said, walking into the shadows, "It was nice meeting you and all but I've really got to run." He gave a savage grin, "See you round, kiddo."

"Wait." Roxas called, and his saviour turned back to him quizically, "What's your name?"

The stranger smiled and gestured towards himself theatrically.

"The name's Axel, Roxy. Got it memorized?"

And with that he turned around and vanished into the shadows.

"Axel." Roxas said, trying out the name, and slowly, hesitantly, he began to smile.

* * *

Well that's the prologue. Comments? Constructive Criticism? Review or email me!

Next Chapter: We meet Sora and Riku, Axel walks in on Zexion and Demyx getting it on, and Axel's motive behind saving Roxas becomes slightly clearer.


	2. Preparations

A.N. Sorry this chapter is a bit late. I got caught up at school. And for those wondering, no, the entire Organization won't be making an appearance, just a few members.

Warning: This chapter contains implied torture, violence, and vampire sex.

Pairings: Ultimately Akuroku, Soriku, Zemyx (thanks to Dualism), Marxene (Marluxia and Larxene courtesy of ShadowAili) and Marluxia and Namine.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Kindgdom Hearts 2 or anything associated. They all belong to Square Enix. As does Final Fantasy.

* * *

Axel strode through the halls of the residence of one of his fellow vampires. Though the redhead owned his own house, he hated to be alone and so generally slept at the houses of his allies, except when he had a new toy to play with, or when he wanted to break the routine with an older one. He never tired of surprising them in the middle of an escape attempt. It made following torment so much more enjoyable. 

Lost in thought, Axel didn't notice the noise echoing down the hallway, and so stepped into the library and was quite surprised to find a blond with blue-green eyes writhing on the floor under a slate-haired vampire, both of them panting and breathing heavily.

Studiously averting his eyes from the naked lovers, Axel walked over to the opposite side of the library, ignoring the grunting and moaning behind him. Picking a book from the shelf, he turned around and headed back across the room, again ignoring the two males entwined on the floor. As he left the room a smirk slowly spread across his face.

"By the way, Demyx, Zexion," he laughed, voice echoing through the white hallway, "If you'd like to maintain your privacy I would advise locking the door next time. That wasn't something I particularly needed to see."

Chuckling at the chaos behind him as they realized that he'd seen them, Axel headed down the corridor, back towards his room. Hopefully the book he'd chosen could explain enough about humans that he could pull off this trick, because if it succeeded it would make his new prey a lot easier to catch.

Deciding to surprise his current plaything, he stepped into one of the few shadows in the house, dissolving and then reforming miles away in his own house. Walking over to the locked door of his captives room, he began to slowly walk through the cast-iron door, fingering a knife hidden in his sleeve. If he listened hard enough, he could almost hear the gore-caked metal calling out for more blood.

Smirking, Axel emerged into the dark room, snapping his fingers and calling a flame into life.

"Why hello Seifer," he called, the obvious terror of the blond lying on the floor filling him with a sadistic pleasure. Pulling out the knife, his smile widened as he watched his captive squirm. "It's been a while hasn't it?"

* * *

Roxas walked out of his science class, flinching as the movements pulled on the large shallow cut down the side of his torso, last nights reminder of his fathers displeasure. Pushing his way through the crowd of students, he headed off to find his best friend, and half-brother, Sora. 

Out of the building, in the school gardens, he was surprised to see the normally shy Namine, a girl in his Art class, talking animatedly to an older man with hair that seemed to be a subdued pink.

As Roxas hurried off to find Sora, and Namine left to find her friends, the pink-haired man smiled and looked on as Roxas vanished into the crowd.

"So," he smirked, "That was Axel's new pet."

Chuckling softly he walked over to one of the ornamental cherry trees in the courtyard and, standing in the shade, snapped his fingers. For a moment he was obscured by a hail of pink flowers, and when they cleared, he was gone.

* * *

As Roxas began looking around the gardens, a brown blur shot out of nowhere and crashed into his chest. As Roxas tried to hold in a gasp of pain, his half-brother, Sora, smiled at him from the death-grip the brunette had on his chest. 

"Hi Rox," Sora said loudly, "How was your day? We just had English and Riku got in trouble, because Mr. Strife was quizzing us on the novel we're studying, and Riku's been busy with sport, and he didn't have time to read it, and so he got in trouble."

As Sora continued to ramble on Roxas stood there in shock, with no idea how Sora was able to talk so much without fainting from lack of air. Despite the fact his hyper brother did this to him almost every day, Roxas had never gotten used to it.

As his death-grip crushed the air out of his brothers lungs, Sora babbled on until, he finally noticed Roxas's lack of response and immediately demanded, worriedly,

"What's wrong Rox? Are you sick? Oh my god you're sick, quickly, someone call the ambulance!" Hugging Roxas tighter, Sora looked like he was about to cry, and his bottom lip began to quiver.

"Sora," a voice said, "Perhaps he's having breathing problems?"

As Sora turned to look quizzically at the silver-haired teen who had spoken, Riku sighed and elaborated.

"You know, because you're choking him. And you're ranting. And generally the amount of thought required to understand your rants puts people in comas."

Slowly, comprehension dawned across Sora's face and he immediately let go of Roxas and started apologising as Riku sighed wearily. Just another average day dealing with the hyper brunette.

* * *

Smirking Axel looked down at Seifer, the burns and cuts all over his tanned skin only making him more beautiful in the vampire's eyes. 

Stretching out an arm and draping it around the blond, Axel began to laugh as a hiss of pain told him that he'd found one of the injuries he'd already caused.

"So," he said, as he dragged a long fingernail down Seifer's chest, leaving a crimson trail of blood behind, "It seems that soon you will be joined by a new toy of mine."

His smirk widening as the blond flinched in shock, Axel pulled Seifer closer.

"And to answer the question I'm sure you're thinking," the vampire chuckled, "yes, he will be joining in with my little games. The only question is whether you will learn from me and join in playing with him until he's broken beyond repair," and a trace of the stubbornness that Axel had beaten out of the blond returned to his face, "Or become a…tool, if you will, an aid to teaching him to inflict pain. It's your choice."

As he felt his captives heartbeat begin to race, the vampire began to laugh, tightening his grip as the blond started trying to escape. Grabbing Seifer's dirty-blond hair, Axel pulled his head up, forcing his captive to look him in the face.

"You'd better decide quickly though," the vampire warned Seifer, "Because if you haven't made up your mind before he arrives, which will likely be within a week, then I'll be making the choice for you. In his favour."

His captive spat in his face, and snarled,

"I'd rather die!"

At Seifer's defiance, a cruel gleam began to shine in Axel's cat-like eyes.

"As you wish," he murmured.

Then, he reached out, grabbed the top of his captive's head and twisted.

A loud pop echoed through the silent house.

He smirked.

"Goodbye," he murmured, "Seifer."

* * *

Well, I'm sure that ending was surprising. Thank you to all those that have reviewed, and all those that have read this, and those who have faved this. The response to this has been way beyond what I expected and I just want to say again, thank you. From the bottom of my heart.

The next chapter might not be out for a while, as I have an entry to a competition (first prize worth nearly $500) to finish.

Next Chapter: Sora gets told about Axel, Demyx is properly introduced and Sephiroth gets a brief cameo.


	3. The Hunt Begins

A.N. Hi guys! Well, the competition is closed and now all I can do is wait. I hope you enjoy this next chapter of Fire in the Blood.

Warning: This chapter contains implied vampire sex.

Pairings: Ultimately Akuroku, Soriku, Zemyx (thanks to Dualism), Marxene (Marluxia and Larxene courtesy of ShadowAili) and Marluxia and Namine.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts 2 or anything associated. They all belong to Square Enix. As does Final Fantasy.

* * *

Water chuckled over pebbles in the courtyard of Axel's mansion, fish swimming around in the fountain and flowers waving in the breeze. The burbling stopped, and then swelled to a crescendo, and the wave that rose out of the pool fell apart, spilling water over the sandstone bricks. 

Brushing a hand through wet hair, a tall figure tossed his head, throwing brown-blond locks out of blue-green eyes. Demyx gave a gentle smile, humming a haunting tune and wandering into the house as the water lying on the floor rose up and rejoined the contents of the fountain.

Stepping through the door in a wave of droplets, Demyx started as he heard the familiar lazy drawl of a certain redhead.

"So, Demyx," Axel said, a faint curl of smoke billowing through his lips and from the tip of the cigarette in his hand, "What reason do you have for choosing to grace my humble abode with your noble company today?"

He raised a thin red eyebrow. Demyx gave a lazy grin, retorting,

"I was hoping to get some news actually."

"Fascinating," Axel muttered, gesturing with the still smoldering cigarette. "And speaking of news, how is dear Zexion today?"

Demyx snickered.

"He's feeling a little…worn out."

Axel chuckled and ruffled Demyx's hair.

"Atta boy Dem," he said proudly, before frowning and letting out a worried sigh.

"Ax?"

Ignoring his fellow vampire Axel began to wander around the corridor muttering to himself under his breath. Demyx caught a few words along the lines of 'stupid ego' and 'stupid plan' and generally calling things stupid.

Demyx blinked.

"Ax are you okay?"

Suddenly, still not noticing Demyx's tentative enquiries Axel stopped pacing and looked at him.

"Dem," he said seriously, "I need you to do me a favour."

Demyx shrugged.

"Anytime," he said cheerfully, "But would you mind giving me a bit more information?"

Axel took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Alright," he begun, "You see, there's this blond called Roxas..."

* * *

Riku lay in bed, looking up at the navy ceiling above him. Snuggling deeper into the black blankets, the silver-haired teen tried to hide from the bright green light shed by his clock. 

"RIKU!"

Trying to block out his older brothers voice, Riku closed his eyes and curled up into a ball, trying to will himself back to sleep. Suddenly a long blade sliced through the blankets just above the silver-haired teens head. Giving a start, Riku sat up, looking up at Sephiroth, his older brothers hair blowing around his face in the breeze from the window. Sephiroth gave a cold smile.

"Its time to get up Riku."

* * *

Roxas and Sora sat together just outside the school grounds, waiting for Riku to turn up. As the blond sat there patiently waiting, Sora got bored and started poking him in the chest. Roxas hissed and winced in pain as his half-brother poked the wound on his side. Sora raised an eyebrow. 

"Rox, what was that for." He said, pouting. "I didn't poke you that hard."

His brother gave him a pained smile.

"It was dad." Roxas said, "I was walking home from work on Sunday evening and I got sidetracked. This creep comes out of an alley and tries to kill me, and then this freak appears out of nowhere and breaks his hand and then..."

"Yeah, Rox?"

"I know this sounds crazy, but he drank his blood." Somewhat frightened of what Sora would think, Roxas met his half-brothers eyes warily. "So, I don't he was human."

Sora looked puzzled for a moment, and then gave Roxas an energetic hug. Roxas raised one eyebrow.

"What the hell?"

"You seemed kinda down and I thought it would cheer you up."

Giving his brother a warm smile, Roxas relaxed, lying back and simply enjoying the day.

* * *

As Roxas left the school that afternoon, he revelled in the knowledge that, as his father wouldn't be home until 7, he had the afternoon to himself. Heading off to the centre of town, he stopped off in the town square, spending a while browsing and spending the money that his mother, who currently lived with her husband, Sora's father had given him. 

As he looked through the various shops, a flash of red caught his eye and he turned around, only to realize that it wasn't in fact the vampire, but was in fact his friend Hayner, wearing a bright red sweater, and right behind him were Pence and Olette.

"Hi guys." Roxas called, tensing for the anticipated slap on the back from Hayner. After the greetings were over, the four friends stopped of at the nearest cafe and began to discuss their plans for the Struggle tournament over salt-sea icecream.

Several hours later, they headed out, wandering around the city before stopping off for a brief Struggle battle between Roxas and Hayner. As night began to fall, the friends split up and began to make their ways back to their respective homes.

Leaving the square, Roxas headed off towards the nicer part of town, taking a quick detour and cutting half an hour of the trip home by heading through an abandoned street called Tramps Alley.

As the sky darkened, the ever-shadowed alley grew even more oppressive, the shadows lining the walls spilling out from their normal positions and filling the alley. Pools of murky water began to well up from between the cobblestones and dirty-gray clouds began to form in the sky.

The rain began to pour down and Roxas started shivering, his teeth clacking together as his clothing became soaked with the freezing water. The puddles of water forming on the alley floor expanded until the water was a few inches high all through the narrow, sunken alleyway.

The alley darkened and Roxas's vision began to blur as water ran down his face into his eyes. A soft splashing noise began to sound and soft song began to drift out of the shadows around him.

"Well, well, well," A mellow voice came, "What have we here? A sodden little alley-rat?"

A movement next to him and Roxas spun around to see a large amount of water fall down with a large splash.

Another few figures began to emerge nearby, remaining within the shadows so it was difficult to see them clearly, and the voice started sounding simultaneously from different directions as the music swelled into a haunting chorus, the water around Roxas starting to swirl and jump in time with the rise and fall of the eerie tune.

Driven beyond endurance, Roxas let out a short scream and ran through the figures, which fell down as showers of water as he passed. Running through the alley, Roxas was unaware he was heading towards the lone building that stood in the alley, a broken down shack near the centre.

As the water clones started to close in, Roxas continued running straight through the alley, and out the end, heading straight towards his home, which despite the pain and bad memories it held was still preferable to the alley.

As the small blond disappeared into the distance the water rose up, swirling together and coalescing into the shape of a man with blond-brown hair styled into a mollet. Staring apprehensively at the front door of the shack, where firelight shone despite the deluge that no fire could have escaped, breathing in the smell of cigarette smoke, Demyx gulped.

"Oh shit." He said quietly, then dissolved into the water and disappeared, the sky clearing up behind him.

* * *

What do you think? Finally, Demyx has revealed his true awesomeness. For those wondering, yes, Sephiroth will become very important later in the story.

Term 4 has just started, so updates may be sporadic, but I live in hope.

Next Chapter: Demyx and Axel put Plan B into action.

P.S. Over 1000 hits and only 23 reviews? Guys it would make my month if those numbers could increase, especially the latter. Please?


	4. Siren Songs

A.N. Hello again! The hecticness of assessment is in its last stages so after a while I should have more time to write. Until then, please enjoy this chapter as the plot begins to develop and show signs of actually existing.

Pairings: Ultimately Akuroku, Soriku, Zemyx (thanks to Dualism), Marxene (Marluxia and Larxene courtesy of ShadowAili) and Marluxia and Namine.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts 2 or anything associated. They all belong to Square Enix. As does Final Fantasy. Neither do I own the rights to 'Les Temps des Cathedrals' or 'Por Ti Sere'.

* * *

Roxas blinked sleepily in the middle of English, the combination of a late night and the beating he had received when he got home making it difficult to concentrate on what his teacher, Ms. Gainsborough, was saying.

Thankfully, the day was nearly over and, sure enough, a few minutes later the bell rang and Roxas hastily grabbed his stuff and headed off home, not in the mood to deal with Sora.

As he walked through the crowded streets of Twilight Town, Roxas ignored everyone in his path, prompting a few irritated comments from other pedestrians, though, lost in though about the last nights' events, he didn't even notice.

Walking through the square which was, unusually empty, the normal legions of street performers absent save for a few mime artists, Roxas was brought out of his musing by the arrival of a young man dressed in baggy blue pants and a tight, long-sleeved turquoise shirt with a large navy-blue instrument case hoisted over one shoulder, who settled down next to the steps leading up to the library.

Despite the young man's somewhat ragged clothing, he exuded a sort of charisma that made it hard to take your eyes off him. As Roxas watched, the young man brushed his fringe out of his eyes and removed a large blue guitar-like instrument from the case before laying the case down open on the ground and starting to play. After a few rippling chords and some minor adjustments to the tuning, the young musician took a deep breath and started to sing.

"C'est une histoire qui a pour lieu, Paris la belle en l'an de Deiu, mil quatre ent quartre vingt deux, histoire d'amour et de désir..."

Roxas gasped in amazement as the brown-haired teen's mellow strangely familiar voice rang through the square, entwining with the music to create a delicate and wistful song that reminded Roxas that he hadn't seen Axel since that night, soft rippling interweaving harmonies springing from his dancing fingers. A hush fell over the square as the young man continued to sing and play, the spell broken only at the end of the song, at which point the crowd that had gathered began to applaud.

Coins fell into the open case like rain, and a constant stream of people came up, congratulating the brown-haired musician, who blushed and bashfully waved away the comments. Looking around, he spotted Roxas at the edge of the crowd, and gave him a bright smile and a wave.

Though somewhat puzzled that a stranger was being so friendly, Roxas thought the teen seemed nice enough, so he waved back, and settled down to listen. The musician settled back down, and began playing a repetitive series of chords, before taking a deep breath and launching into song.

"Cuando me vi desnudo y sin aliento, arando un mar desierto y sin amor, cuando pense que mi alma habia muerto, ilegaste tu como la luz del sol..."

With a smile Roxas lay back and relaxed, letting the music sweep over him like a wave, his mind conjuring up images of how his life could have been, had his father had a different life. Before he knew it, Roxas was deep in slumber, lulled to sleep on an ocean of music.

* * *

Roxas woke with a start, and opened bleary eyes to see the brown-haired musician poking his shoulder. Somewhat irritated, Roxas smacked his hand away. 

"What?"

The musician smiled.

"Nothing much, you just sat there sleeping for about five hours, and I though to myself, Demyx, you can't possibly leave the nice little blond here on his own, cause then his parents would ground him and he'd be miserable and..."

Amused by the teen constant stream of words, Roxas had started to giggle.

"What's so funny? " The musician demanded. "Seriously, what's so funny?"

As Roxas continued to roll around laughing hysterically the young man scowled at him.

"Man, what the hell is with the giggling!" Suddenly he cowered away from Roxas as if the blond was contagious. "Have you been attacked by one of the laughing snakes?"

After taking a few deep breaths Roxas was able to calm down. Looking up at the musician he raised an eyebrow.

"Laughing snakes?"

"What, you don't believe in them?" The brown-haired teen said, eyes wide with panic. "Well, someday the laughing snakes will come for you, and when they do, don't come crying to me."

And with that final word on the matter, stuck his tongue out and then held out a hand.

"Hi." He said, "I'm Demyx."

Roxas smiled.

"Roxas."

Smiling, the two shook hands.

"Pleased to meet you Demyx." Roxas said with a smile. "You new around here?"

Demyx smiled.

"Nope. I've lived here my entire life, just down in the slums, so probably never would have seen each other. My parents died recently, and I was adopted by my best friends family and so," He shrugged, "I'm here."

Roxas smiled at him.

"Well," the blond said, "It was lovely meeting you and all but that unscheduled nap means I need to get going to minimise the punishment I'll get for being home late."

"Ahhhh," Demyx said with a cheeky grin, waving his finger at Roxas. "That's why having a friend who knows this city is handy. I can get you anywhere in this city within ten minutes, maximum, and that's for the outskirts."

Roxas looked at him in awe and them threw himself at Demyx and hugged the taller musician. With a smile, Demyx gently untangled the blond's arms.

"Yes Rox, I love you too, but come on, we're going to be late."

As Demyx beckoned towards him and ran into an alleyway, Roxas followed, shouting as he went.

"Don't call me nicknames. And I am not gay!"

Several minutes later the blond caught up to Demyx who was standing in the middle of an alleyway in front of a broken-down old shack. Looking around, Roxas realised that he was in Tramp's Alley, and looked at Demyx questioningly.

"I'm sorry about this Rox," the musician said mournfully, "You're my friend and all, but, some friendships go back longer and go deeper."

Taking a deep breath Demyx began to sing, and suddenly the storm that Roxas hadn't noticed was brewing broke overhead. As the raindrops plummeted down the musician's song caught them, forming them into three-metre high walls of water. At the sound of the musician's singing and the effect it had on the water, Roxas realized why the brown-haired teen's voice had sounded so familiar.

"You're him." The blond said, eyes wide with shock. "The one who attacked me here before."

As he turned to run, he saw a movement out of the corner of his eye, and next thing he knew Demyx was holding him up in the air by the scruff of his neck, having somehow crossed the five-metre gap between them in moments.

Holding Roxas firmly, Demyx walked over to the shack, and, after knocking opened the door slightly and deposited the blond inside. Looking around, Roxas could see red rugs, crimson silk hanging over the walls and a huge fireplace roaring in the middle of the room. Red-gold cutlery was set out for one on a mahogany table to his right, and a scarlet four-poster bed took up most of the room on his left. The smell of cigarette smoke hung heavy in the air.

A floorboard creaked, and Roxas spun to see the door swing closed, revealing a man behind it. Long red hair brushed the ceiling and emerald eyes glittered with cruelty as Axel straightened up to his full height and gave a cocky smirk.

"Well, well, well," the vampire said, sounding very pleased with himself. "It's good to see you again...Roxy."

* * *

Well, what did you think? As per usual, reviews are loved and appreciated. Spend five minutes to write one, and you make my day. Next chapter will come the beating/smex you've all been waiting for.

I may not be able to update again for a while, as assessment is nearly finished and work on my novel has recommenced.

Once again, thanks to my wonderful beta, Malik's Bunny Mika.


	5. Seduction

A.N. I'm back! And assessment is over! Which means if I get my act together Chapter 5 should be up soon (depending on your definition of soon). On that happy note, please enjoy this new (M rated) chapter of Fire in the Blood.

Warning: This chapter (finally) contains the "Barely consensual sex, torture, S & M, bondage and violence" that was mentioned in the original warning.

Pairings: Ultimately Akuroku, Soriku, Zemyx (thanks to Dualism), Marxene (Marluxia and Larxene courtesy of ShadowAili) and Marluxia and Namine.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts 2 or anything associated. They all belong to Square Enix. As does Final Fantasy.

* * *

Roxas gasped in shock, the fiery-haired vampire's oddly ominous greeting running through his head. As the redhead got closer and closer, moving in an oddly predatory fashion, the blonds breathing began to speed up as panic took over.

"Now," Axel said, almost purring, "Let's go back to my place where we can be comfortable without having to worry about over-protective siblings interfering."

Grabbing Roxas effortlessly by the front of the shirt, he turned towards the fire, and then dropped the small blond as Roxas kicked him as hard as possible between the legs.

As Roxas ran towards the exit, Axel straightened, and gestured languidly, a wall of flames springing up in front of the door. As the blond looked around for a route of escape, Axel simply sighed and watched in amusement, before starting in alarm as Roxas' eyes lit up. Grabbing a candlestick from the table, the teen ran over to one of the windows, smashing the wooden shutters with the cast-iron implement before attempting to crawl out through the hole it left.

Axel snarled, crossing the room in an instant and grabbing Roxas by the back of the shirt, tossing him effortlessly across the room before cracking his knuckles, nails lengthening into claws and flames flaring up in response to his anger.

Roxas cried out as he slammed into the wall, the shock of the impact shaking his body and winding him. Standing upright, the blond bent down to pick up the candlestick, and then fell backwards as Axel's foot drove into his side.

The vampire smirked, launching himself into the air and slamming the edge of his hand into Roxas' arm as the blond tried to block, a sickening crunch sounding as his play-toy's arm broke. Blocking a vain attempt at an attack with the candlestick, Axel struck again, blood welling up along the side of the blond's torso.

Axel gave a thin smile, looking down at the blond barely standing upright.

"Come on Roxy," he said, "You're loosing blood and you've broken your arm and probably a rib. In a few minutes, your reactions will slow, your energy will seep out of you, and you'll fall unconscious. That wound," he said, licking his lips, "That wound has ended this fight."

As the blond reflexively looked down, Axel sprung towards him, the inside of his hand scything out to hit Roxas in the temple, causing the teen to crumple into his arms. Putting the fires out with a casual wave of his hand, Axel smiled, and, Roxas still cradled in his arms, vanished in a burst of flames.

* * *

Sora smiled at Riku, his silver-haired friend lying sprawled over the brunette's bed. Sitting on the bed between them were two controllers, the PS2 they belonged to lying on the ground. Crossing his arms behind his head, and staring up at the familiar roof of his room, Sora gave a happy sigh. 

"So Ri," he said brightly, "How was your day at school?"

Riku rolled his eyes.

"The same as yours, moron." He said exasperatedly, "Remember? We have the same classes."

Sora blinked.

"Well would you look at that." The blue-eyed teen said in a tone of wonder. "We do."

His silver-haired friend smiled.

"Sora, you're my best friend and all, but I have to say that you are the most clueless person I've ever met in my life."

Sora adopted a vapid expression.

"Wha?"

Both of them started giggling, the giggles erupting into full-blown laughter at the faces Sora kept pulling. Riku started having difficulty breathing, but helpless to stop the laughter, fell off the bed, pulling Sora down along with him. As the brunette landed on top of Riku the silver-haired teen exhaled sharply as their lips met, hesitating momentarily before melting into the kiss.

As Sora broke the kiss, Riku looked at him questioningly and raised a silver eyebrow.

Sora blushed.

"Ri," he said hesitantly, "I have something to tell you."

His silver-haired friend waved his hand casually.

"Go right ahead."

"I've had a crush on you since second grade." Sora flushed an even deeper red. "Sorry I didn't tell you."

Riku slung an affectionate arm around Sora's shoulders and pulled the brunette close.

"I forgive you." He said happily, "I've liked you for years and I didn't tell you either so I guess it all balances out."

Sora looked at him incredulously, unable to believe that his friend wasn't joking.

Riku smiled and nodded.

"So, Sora." He said happily, "Would you be willing to go out with me?"

At the brunettes nod Riku beamed before bending down to capture Sora's lips again. Holding the brunette tight in his arms, the silver-haired teen smiled, feeling that life was finally starting to look up.

* * *

Roxas groaned, head pounding. Opening his eyes, he let out a cry of pain as firelight stabbed into his eyes. Blinking away the tears, the blond looked around, eyes slowly adjusting to the light. Suddenly, along with awareness of his surrounding came a rather disturbing realization. He was naked and tied to a four-poster bed with leather straps. Eyes wide with fear, Roxas felt himself starting to hyperventilate, struggling wildly against the restraints. 

A low chuckle sounded through the room.

"It's no good, Roxy." Axel's voice echoed through the room. "You can struggle as long and hard as you like but it won't help you."

As the blond ignored him and continued to struggle, the vampire began to laugh, softly at first, but slowly getting louder and louder.

"Come on Roxy," Axel said smugly, "Give up. Accept defeat."

Roxas responded with a string of rather rude words.

Axel laughed ominously, a series of loud cracks sounding as, Roxas guessed, and the vampire cracked his knuckles.

"Now, now Roxy," Axel said, "You know perfectly well that language like that isn't acceptable." The redheads emerald eyes became visible in a shadowy corner of the room, shining bright with malice. "And that means you're going to have to be punished." A sudden sound echoed through the room as Axel snapped his fingers, the vampire's pale hand becoming visible in the shadows.

Roxas blinked at him, the pain in his head making it hard to think. The blond watched bemusedly as Axel stepped out of the darkness and settled down into a large red armchair, watching intently. Suddenly reminded of his nudity, Roxas flushed, feeling his face heat up in embarrassment. He blinked again, even more puzzled, as the heat in his face seemed to spread through his entire body, the skin underneath the leather ties becoming almost painfully hot.

As Roxas hissed in pain, Axel's smile widened, and he continued increasing the heat coursing through the blond's body. Small wisps of smoke began escaping Roxas' skin as he watched, feeling the searing kiss of flames against his skin. Opening his mouth and screaming, the small blond writhed around trying to do something, anything to make the pain stop.

The heat continued to rise until Roxas could see his bones exposed through gaps in his blackened flesh. Trying to scream, even though his vocal cords had been burned away, the blond writhed around on the four-poster bed, stretching out a supplicating towards Axel, who still sat watching with a cruel smile on his face.

Snapping his fingers, the vampire conjured up a maelstrom of flames, Roxas only having time for one terrified scream before the flames engulfed him, white-hot agony searing through every nerve in his body until...

SNAP!

He jerked upright, opening his eyes to see Axel standing in front of him with an evil grin on his face, a thin blade in the vampires hand.

"Lovely trick isn't it?" Axel said, dark joy dancing in his eyes. "If you thought that was cool, you should see the Schemer in action. Zex can do far worse than that, and he doesn't leave any marks."

Looking down, Roxas inhaled sharply when he saw that, though his skin was slightly burnt under the leather, he was unharmed. Axel smiled and shook a finger at him.

"Come on Roxy," The vampire said, "Did you really I think I'd go hurting you badly at such an early point in the proceedings." Axel winked. "I may be a soulless evil bloodsucker, but if there's one thing I'm not, its impatient."

Reaching out he let the cold steel of the knife trail down the blond's skin before applying slightly more pressure, licking his lips as the delicious smell of blood filled the air. Axel continued to cut, bending down and lapping up the blood left behind, his tongue sending tingling sensations down Roxas' spine.

Continuing to idly trace patterns on Roxas' skin with the blade, Axel followed the knife with his mouth, lapping and sucking at the wounds and causing the blond to moan in pleasurable agony. Dropping the knife, Axel started tracing his long nails all over Roxas' chest as he walked behind the blond, blood welling up from the scratches he left behind.

Removing his hands from the blond, Axel started to strip, reaching out his free hand to cup Roxas' crotch. Roxas let out a low moan of pleasure as Axel's unnaturally warm hands caressed him, the pleasure shooting through his body drowning out the pain that remained from the scratches.

Feeling a slight pressure against his rectum, Roxas tensed, his breathing speeding up as he started to panic. Realizing that Axel was trying to rape him, the blond tried to escape, but was stopped at every turn by the expertly tied leather bonds.

Axel growled. Grabbing Roxas' hips with both hands he pulled the blond towards him, thrusting forwards as he did so. Roxas let out a low moan of pain, the unexpected intrusion inside his rectum feeling uncomfortably large. Giving a wicked smile at Roxas' discomfort, Axel rammed forward, burying himself inside Roxas, causing the little blond to cry out in pain.

Continuing to thrust, Axel returned to fondling Roxas, the blond beginning to relax as the pleasure flooding his body helped to balance out the pain, the combination making him feel better than he'd ever felt before. Speeding up, Axel started to breathe harder as Roxas moaned, white-hot pleasure flooding their bodies.

Crying out, Roxas came, trembling and seeing spots as he disappeared into the land of melty muscles and tingling senses. Thrusting a few more times, Axel snarled as his fangs emerged, the vampire crying out in ecstasy as he buried them in Roxas' jugular and began to drink.

Feeling somewhat drained, Axel pulled out, cutting the leather bonds holding Roxas' upright with his claws, and catching the blond as he collapsed. Laying Roxas down on the bed, Axel pulled on some clothes and left the room, retrieving the knife on his way out and locking the door behind him.

* * *

Well, what did you think? As per usual, reviews are loved and appreciated. Spend five minutes to write one, and you make my day. Next chapter will come the further development of the plot you have all been waiting for.

I am writing a novel! Everybody cheer. Once I get my act together and get a Fictionpress account, I'll post the prologue and (maybe) some character profiles.

Many thanks to my totally awesome beta, Malik's Bunny Mika.


	6. Mind Games

A.N. Hello again everyone! The school holidays are nearly over, but I may be able to get another chapter done while I'm at the beach. Also, when paedophilia is mentioned in regards to Axel and Roxas, its in the 'Axel is centuries older than Roxas' sense, and not the 'Roxas is underage' one. Thank you for taking the time to read this authors note. Enjoy!

Warning: This chapter contains swearing, Sephiroth angst, mentions of paedophilia and psychological torture.

Pairings: Ultimately Akuroku, Soriku, Zemyx (thanks to Dualism), Marxene (Marluxia and Larxene courtesy of ShadowAili) and Marluxia and Namine.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts 2 or anything associated. They all belong to Square Enix. As does Final Fantasy.

* * *

The low roar of thunder rolled through Twilight Town as the storm that had been threatening to arrive for hours finally broke. Caught out in the open, a small blond teen who had been caught out in the open bit back a curse, clutching her sketchpad close in a vain attempt to keep it dry.

As the rain poured down Namine looked around for shelter, too far away from any of her friends' houses to seek refuge there. The only other option would be public transport, and the town's buses, and busdrivers, weren't supposed to be too trustworthy.

The small blond sighed at the absence of her boyfriend. True, Marluxia couldn't stop the rain, but at least with him here the wait would be far less unbearable. Far less unbearable, she thought, remembering the last date they'd gone on with an absent smile. Marluxia was so sweet and kind and funny and...

Beginning to daydream, she prepared to wait out the storm.

* * *

Thunder boomed over the flatlands out of town. Torrents of rain poured down as small flickers of light leaped from one cloud to another. The clouds cleared momentarily, before closing again, and a black bolt of lightning crackled down and slammed into the street only a few hundred metres up from the oblivious Namine.

A slender figure pulled itself up from the charred area of the pavement, long blond hair crackling with static. Pushing her fringe out of her face, the short nymph-like blond looked down the street at Namine, her green-blue eyes cold as ice.

"I should just go up there and drive a god-damn kunai through her chest," she muttered to herself angrily. "But he might just have an explanation for this, and he deserves for me to give him that chance."

Angrily plunging an electrified knife into the wall Larxene snapped her fingers, and, as ions gathered and pulsed in the sky above her, growled,

"You'd better have a damn good explanation for this Marluxia."

* * *

A timid knock sounded on his door, and Sephiroth looked away from his contemplation of the scar on his palm long enough to give whoever it was his 'I-will-disembowel-you' glare, before continuing to ruminate over the events that lead to the mutilation of his palm.

He could hear soft whispering outside in the hall as whoever it was worked up the courage to open the door. Sephiroth blinked in surprise as Sora stuck his head into the room and looked around.

Composing himself, the silver-haired young man turned around and gazed at Sora enquiringly.

"What?" He said flatly.

Sora blanched, sticking his head outside the room for another whispered conference. Rolling his eyes, Sephiroth strode over and, pulling the door open, grabbed Riku's arm and dragged him inside. Pulling his katana down from the wall the silver-haired young man settled comfortably down on his bed crosslegged and began to sharpen the sword, pretending to be unaware of the fright it was giving his unwelcome visitors.

"So," Sephiroth said, "What brings you here?"

As Sora and Riku exchanged glances and the brunette opened his mouth to begin, Sephiroth held up a warning finger.

"You have five minutes to explain your problem and justify this intrusion before I kick you out," he cautioned them, "Now, Sora; you first."

Sora gulped and tried to hide behind Riku, and, once he was safer than he'd been out in the open, began to explain.

"Well, you know Roxas, right? Yeah, my half-brother? The blond one? Yeah, well Roxas was being all strange and stuff, and then he disappeared and I haven't seen him in two days."

Overcome by the melodrama, Sora burst into tears and Riku, who was looking slightly melancholy himself turned around and patted him on the back. Sephiroth raised an eyebrow and contemplated what he'd done in a previous life to deserve this.

"Alright Sora," he sighed, "I think I get the picture. Now, one question. Roxas was being strange how?"

The brunette emerged from behind Riku and whispered into Sephiroth's ear confidentially,

"He was being stalked."

Sephiroth blinked.

"You're still not making sense Sora, and your five minutes is running out."

"He wasn't just being stalked," Sora murmured, "He was being stalked by a vampire!"

Sora held a serious expression for a few seconds before he and Riku burst out laughing at the general hilarity of that statement. They both stopped in shock as Sephiroth's hand reflexively closed and crushed the whetstone he had been using to sharpen his katana. For a short moment they even thought they could see unshed tears glistening in his eyes as he longingly murmured,

"Cloud."

Sensing that they were intruding on something private, Riku gestured to Sora that they should leave and, planting a light kiss on the brunette's forehead, murmured to his boyfriend,

"It's alright Sora. We'll talk with Seph again later."

Closing the door quietly they went back to Riku's room, leaving Sephiroth sitting alone in melancholy silence. Blinking back tears, Sephiroth held the medallion his boyfriend had brought for him so long ago.

"Cloud," he whispered, "I'm so sorry. I wasn't able to protect you and now you're...gone."

* * *

A tall red-head stalked through Twilight Town's market district, cursing under his breath as he went. Seeing a familiar pair of curtains draped across what he knew was the end of an alleyway, Axel took a quick glance around to see if the usual late-night inhabitants of the town were around, and, reassured, stepped inside.

Oriental rugs were drapped over all the walls, and a variety of crystal balls, strange devices and herbs in small pots lay strewn around the room. Plumes of crimson incense wafted through the air, the smell of charcoal and smoke everywhere.

"I've been expecting you," a dry British voice drifted out of the shadows. "It's been a while hasn't it Axel?"

Axel spun around and rolled his eyes at the spiral of cards that was forming itself into a body behind him.

"Honestly Lux," he sighed, "Do you have to be such a drama queen?"

Smirking, the blond Englishman brandished a card that depicted a woman sitting on a throne in the middle of a field.

"Alas my friend," he declared, "I'm afraid that Fate is leaving me no choice."

They both had a quiet chuckle before sitting down cross-legged on the cushions strewn all over the floor. Luxord settled into a very dignified Lotus and practiced what Demyx and Xigbar had named his 'Buddha' expression while smiling kindly at Axel.

"So Ax," he said, "What was it that you wanted?"

Axel frowned.

"I have a problem," the red-head declared.

"Sorry Ax," Luxord said beatifically, "You'll have to find someone else to deal with that."

Axel looked singularly unamused.

"That's part of the problem," he growled, "I 'found someone else' as you put it, and for some reason the idea of draining the kid doesn't seem as fun as it normally does."

Luxord's smile widened and he pulled a card out of the air with a flourish. Axel stared at the picture of a tall red-head who resembled him holding hands with a boy who looked just like Roxas with an angel who looked suspiciously like Luxord beaming down at them. Looking at the text at the bottom of the card, Axel started swearing in half a dozen languages about Luxord's insanity before storming out.

The 'Gambler of Fate', as the sign outside identified him smirked and snapped his fingers, remarking as he vanished in a flurry of cards,

"I didn't know pedophilia was one of Axel's fetishes."

Abandoned on a cushion the card sat there, the bold looping text at the bottom reading 'The Lovers'.

* * *

Sephiroth still sat on his bed, not having moved since Riku and Sora's visit in the afternoon. The only light in the room was that of the moon shining through a gap in the curtains. Sitting there, lost in regrets, the silver-haired young man started as his mobile began to ring. Somewhat curious, as the circle of people with his number was small enough to count on one hand, Sephiroth uncrossed his legs, walked over and picked up the phone.

Stumbling backwards and nearly dropping it, Sephiroth stared at the name glowing on the screen for what felt like a lifetime before accepting the call.

"Hello," a familiar voice came over the phone, "Seph, are you there?"

He just stood there, before whispering a single word into the phone.

"Cloud?'

"Yeah, its me," his boyfriend's voice said softly, "Its been a while hasn't it?"

A flicker of pain passed across Sephiroth's face.

"It has."

"Seph, there's something we need to talk about."

Sephiroth frowned. Cloud hardly ever sounded worried.

"But," his boyfriend's voice came over the phone, "He told me to call you." 

Sephiroth's teeth began to grind together at the mention of him. 

"He said that whatever your brother and Sora were visiting you for, the matter was none of your business and involved one of his friends. And, Seph, he said he'd be very upset if you intefered. I don't want him to hurt you Seph. Please don't get involved. I'm begging you."

Sephiroth frowned.

"You're not Cloud."

"What do you mean? Sephiroth, is this meant to be a joke? Cause if it is, it isn't funny."

"It's very simple. You're not Cloud. Cloud knows better than to ask me to abandon Riku, Cloud doesn't beg, and he never called me Seph. So, whoever you are, why don't you quit this charade and tell me who you really are."

His voice came down the line, that familiar icy tone that was all he had to blame for losing Cloud. 

"But Sephy, don't you love me any more?"

As Sephiroth gritted his teeth, in a desperate attempt to restrain from waking up the street with his screams of rage, the voice changed again. A smooth dark slightly Japanese voice began to chuckle down the phone.

"Having fun reliving the past?" The stranger asked, "I'm sure he would be very proud. Now Sephiroth, I may not be Cloud, but he wouldn't want you to get hurt. If you Sora and Riku get involved in Roxas' disappearance, hurt will be the understatement of the century. I'm not threatening you, this is an honest warning." 

"You know what I am," the voice continued, "If not who I am, and that should explain why it would be safer to mind your own business. You think you've tasted desperate just because you're an orphan and you lost your precious Cloud, but you're wrong. If you continue to pursue this foolish path, then you will learn exactly what people mean when they say that you humans are defined by suffering."

"Are you?" Sephiroth snarled into the phone, "One of that bastard's friends?"

The stranger chuckled.

"More like his lord and master when you get down to the grit. But back to the business on hand. Stay away from Roxas. The Flurry of Dancing Flames won't be a happy bloodsucker if you start messing with his pet."

"The Flurry of Dancing Flames?" Sephiroth asked and was rewarded with a slight chuckle.

"Oops, I said too much. Though perhaps it's for the best. After you look him up in a book it may help you realize how dangerous this situation is. You may be able to hold your own against him and Cloud, but don't let that get you cocky. Your pathetic human combat courses won't help you at all against one of us. If you were to fight even the weakest of the true vampyr, you would be crushed." 

The voice gained an undertone of dark amusement.

"Never think that you could stand up to me, or even Marly just because you fought off Leonheart. We're all in a whole different level to him."

Another chuckle.

"Goodbye Sephiroth, its been lovely having this chat. Oh, and, by the way? Squall sends his regards."

Hanging up, Zexion smirked as he looked over at the bedroom he knew was Sephiroth's. Giving another quiet chuckle, the Cloaked Schemer vanished into the night.

* * *

What do you think? Please review, I live off your compliments. Spend the time to write one, and you make me a very happy author. C'mon, write one as a late Christmas present.

Next Chapter: Sephiroth does something foolish, Zexion makes another phonecall and the LarxeneMarluxiaNamine sub-plot thickens. Oh, and we learn how Roxas is doing, but no-one's interested in that.

Thanks again to my wonderful beta Malik's Bunny Mika.

Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year.

Azrael


	7. Rising Darkness

A.N. I'm back! I'm sorry I haven't updated, but school has been unbelievably hectic with rehearsals and auditions for the musical. Many thanks to my beta, Malik's Bunny Mika, without whom this chapter would have been at least another week late.

Warning: This chapter contains blood, swearing, threats, Roxas angst and Marluxia torturing.

Pairings: Ultimately Akuroku, Soriku, Zemyx (thanks to Dualism), Marxene (Marluxia and Larxene courtesy of ShadowAili) and Marluxia and Namine.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts 2 or anything associated. They all belong to Square Enix. As does Final Fantasy.

* * *

Roxas yawned, shifting onto his side and burrowing deeper into the mass of blankets that surrounded him. Closing his eyes firmly, he lay there for a few seconds before grunting in annoyance, unable to go back to sleep.

Throat dry, he swallowed once before dropping to his knees and spitting violently, wiping his tongue clean as he shuddered in distaste. Wiping his mouth, he held a liquid-covered finger up to his nose and sniffed, his nausea returning at the coppery tang of blood.

Wiping his hands upon the floor he shuddered, before realizing with a start that the marks left by the burning were gone. Casting his mind back, Roxas recalled how his broken arm had mysteriously healed before his…

Rape? No, he though with a faint blush. He would be lying if he said he had been entirely unwilling. But whatever it had been, his arm been healed once he woke up, and he could swear the taste of blood had been in his mouth then as well.

Looking around he realized that he was still in the room where his...encounter with the red-haired vampire had played itself out. That life on reasoning led him to thoughts of Axel, and he began to wonder what was going to happen to him.

Was this going to be his life from now on? Though he would deny it vehemently if asked, deep down he was honest enough to admit it wouldn't be the worst life imaginable by any means.

A sound caught his attention, footsteps coming from outside the door. Axel began to step through, and Roxas thought the harsh and arrogant lines of his face had almost softened, though that could have been a trick of the light.

Staring at the vampire, he wondered idly why it was that someone who was everything he didn't want in a lover could make him feel so good. As Axel stood there, about to speak, a flash of red caught his attention.

Lifting his eyes to the ceiling, Roxas gasped at the message written on the roof in flames. As Axel began to speak Roxas just stared at him with the words on the ceiling running through his mind.

Looking at the vampire with wide eyes, he whispered the message aloud. Two simple words.

"Opposites attract."

* * *

Sephiroth walked into his younger brothers room, taking in the flushes and mussed hair of Riku and Sora with a faint smile. He stepped over to them and put a hand on each one's shoulder, giving a gentle squeeze.

"I have decided." He said, "I lost the person who was dearest to me under circumstances similar to those you," he nodded at Sora, "Find yourself in, and so I will help you."

He held up a hand to stem their thanks.

"However," Sephiroth said grimly, "You should rethink your reaction to supernatural possibilities. There are more things in heaven and earth, after all, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

Snapping his fingers, he called Riku's pillow into the air, smirking at their awestruck expressions.

"Therefore, gentleman," He announced, "We will be doing a patrol around the neighbourhood tonight, and tomorrow we will build on the training in combat and magic, if you have the skill, that we will now begin."

Sephiroth had already made up his mind; if they were to come up against a vampire while rescuing Roxas, they would be prepared. He had seen enough of his friends killed by these monsters. It was time to fight back.

* * *

Axel looked down at Roxas, amused at the signs of the blond's reaction to his blood.

"Roxas," he said, "I have news for you."

Walking over to the chest-of-drawers at one side of the bed he pulled out Roxas' clothing. Axel handed it to him with a smile.

"You're free to go. I will come and get you later, but for now, enjoy the outside world."

Unlocking the door, he stood to one side, ushering his 'guest' through the red-carpeted corridors of his mansion. Opening the door he stepped outside, protected from the sun by a thick layer of grey clouds covering the sky.

"It's about eleven in the morning." He said, shaking Roxas' hand, "It's been wonderful having you, but I'm afraid I need the house to myself for a while."

Giving a small smile he waved Roxas off, calling out as the blond went.

"Town is about three kilometres to the east. And Roxy? If you tell anyone about this, I know you're aware of how upset I'll be. I will hunt you down, and we will 'hang out' together again soon, and the more upset you make me, the less you're going to enjoy it." Axel's cruel smile widened. "Have fun. Bye!"

With a wave of his hand the door swang shut. Snapping his fingers, he disappeared in a burst of flames, his last sight of the area Roxas trudging away over the flat-lands. Arriving in a back-street alley outside his town-house in Hollow Bastion. He headed straight to the bedroom and settled down to a long relaxed sleep.

* * *

Sephiroth lay in his room, tired after the training session earlier. Shockingly, despite the odds they both had the gift, and so he revised his estimate of their chance of surviving a fight accordingly. Sharpening his katana, the silver-haired man sat quietly, not seeing the point in sleeping before the night patrol with the amateurs.

As he fell into a trance-like state, focusing only on the smooth motion of the whetstone against the blade, he his breathing began to deepen, and his heartbeat slowed as he entered a meditative state. A noise shocked Sephiroth out of his trance, his eyes darting around the room to find the source.

On his bedside table, his eyes fixed on his phone, screen lit up and ringing wildly. Uncoiling and walking softly over to it, he looked at it only to see a number he didn't recognize. Rolling his eyes he ignored the prank-caller, whoever they were, and returned to sharpening his sword.

* * *

Zexion smirked.

Sephiroth was being stubborn, and apparently mundane methods weren't going to cut it.

The slate-haired vampire shrugged, waving his hand and conjuring an illusion of himself in Sephiroth's room. Face hidden under his hood he smiled.

"Sephiroth," Zexion said amusedly, "Its lovely to meet you at last. However, this is not a polite visit. I offered you a chance to live, but you turned it down. Rest assured I will not be so forgiving in the future."

Sephiroth stared at him.

"What are you doing here?" The human demanded, "Why do you care about Roxas?"

"Personally," The Cloaked Schemer said, "I don't, as you humans put it, 'give a damn', but there are deeper forces at work here. The last time one of us got attached to a human, the results weren't ideal. I refuse to stand by and see a repeat of that fiasco."

Zexion's eyes hardened.

"I can tell you have something to say, but keep it to yourself. I'm not interested, I am simply telling you, continue down this path and you will perish. Axel is not as merciful as I am."

With a flash of violet light and a burst of smoke, the vampire was gone.

* * *

Sephiroth still sat on the bed, thinking the conversations over. He swiftly came to the conclusion that this vampire was bluffing. He had sworn an oath to protect his extended family, and he meant to keep it. Checking the time, he gathered together his equipment before heading out of the house to meet Riku and Sora at their meeting place. As he strode towards the town gardens, he felt a strange sense of foreboding. Worried for his brother and Sora, he sped up, running swiftly through the night like a phantom on the breeze.

Marluxia walked through the Twilight Town Botanic Gardens, Namine by his side. Pointing out various plants to her as she told stories about good times she'd spent in the park, the rose-haired vampire enjoyed himself, basking in the beauty of the surroundings.

Excusing himself, he walked over to a rosebush, a casual wave of his hand causing a large crimson bloom to open. Turning around to give it to Namine, Marluxia blinked in shock as his lover disappeared in a flash of blue light.

As he spun around trying to spot his girlfriend, he growled as he saw Namine being held in a chokehold by a dark-robed figure. With a prayer of thanks that the darkness would forestall any awkward explanations later, Marluxia snarled, teeth elongating into fangs.

Holding a hand behind him, he stared at the face hidden under the hood, surprised that even his enhanced vampiric eyesight couldn't pierce through the shadow. Marluxia attempted to conceal the unease he felt, the web of briars weaving themselves together in his hand boosting his confidence.

Grass began to reach up to him, the green shoots weaving themselves into a robe as Marluxia dropped his human form, no longer needing it. Skin blanching unnaturally pale; his rose-pink hair began to shine with its true lustre. The vampire's eyes gleamed as the blue of his irises swirled to give way to their original olive green.

Brown grey roots wove themselves together to form a sharp blade protruding from the mouth of a human skull; the rose briars that formed the scythes handle melding to his skin and sprouting blood-red blooms. Marluxia straightened, eyes fixed on the figure holding his lover.

"Let her go." He said softly, his voice disturbingly inhuman, earthy and far too alive.

"Why should I?" A familiar voice replied, quick-silver and crackling with malice. Eyes cold, Larxene pushed back her hood, an electrified kunai sparking into existence in front of Namine's throat.

"Dear me Aconite," she hissed, eyes icy with rage. "I leave you alone for a few decades and you replace me."

Defying gravity, strands of her electrified hair began to rise in a way reminiscent of antennae, looking almost like bolts of lightning.

"And not only that, but with a filthy HUMAN WHORE!"

A black bolt of lightning blasted down from the roiling storm ahead, only to slam into the thick boughs of a tree suddenly shading Marluxia.

"You were gone Larxene," He said sadly, "I waited for you, but you were gone. In my grief I moved on, and you need to accept that I no longer love you."

"Moved on?" She said curiously. "Well then, I'll just have to win you back. You moved on when I was gone, so it seems simple enough to steal your affections back."

As her cruel smile widened, Marluxia realized her intention and desperately snapped his fingers, a hail of rose-petals whipping towards Larxene from the blooms on the scythes handle as she drew the kunai across Namine's neck, slitting her throat and sending lightning racing through her body just as the blossoms reached her.

Smirking cruelly as Marluxia dropped to his knees, the Savage Nymph chuckled as the garden wrapped itself around his grief-stricken frame, the cuts all over her body already beginning to heal.

"If I can't have you," Larxene whispered, "Then no one can."

* * *

Well, what did you think? Loved it? Hated it? Review and tell me.

Have a fantastic day.

Azrael


	8. The Storm Breaks

A.N. Hey guys, long time no see. Musical is finally well and truly over, my new job is going well and homework is under control so I hope to be updating more often. Hope you lot enjoy this next installment of Fire in the Blood.

Warning: This chapter contains violence, threats, Larxene PMSing, Roxas torturing, and unpleasant suprises.

Pairings: Ultimately Akuroku, Soriku, Zemyx (thanks to Dualism), Cleon and Marxene (Marluxia and Larxene courtesy of ShadowAili).

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts 2 or anything associated. They all belong to Square Enix. As does Final Fantasy.

* * *

Sephiroth ran, coat flapping behind him in the wind

As he reached the fence around the Botanic Gardens he gathered his focus and jumped, rising through the air with hardly a pause to land on the other side of the barrier. Hitting the ground running, he sped up, moving swiftly and silently through the abandoned park.

A muted conversation caught his attention, causing him to turn swiftly, leaping into the trees and beginning to move through the canopy. As he arrived at a small clearing, he heard the last of a conversation, and watched painfully as the vampire collapsed in grief. He knew just how the poor bastard felt.

Gaze fixed on the vampiress, he watched and waited, trying to find an opening to take her down. A loud rustle sounded in the silence as Sora burst out of the bushes, breaking free of Riku's hold and charging towards her. The female vampire turned, then opened her hands, little sparks of static accompanying the creation of…Sephiroth swore softly, before moving into action.

* * *

Sora charged forward, knowing that it was too dangerous to take on the vampiress alone but not caring. He hadn't known Namine well, but she'd helped him in geography a few times, and he liked to think that they had been friends. And then this...creature had just come along and killed her. He may have been easygoing, but even Sora wasn't going to take that lying down.

Breaking free of Riku's desperate grasp on his shoulder he ran forward and swung the short-sword Sephiroth had given him at the blond vampiress, only for her to spin lithely out of the way, hooking his ankle as she went and tripping him over. As she stopped momentarily to survey him, he could see that the only harm his attack had done was a tiny nick in her dress.

She smiled predatorily at him, then beckoned him forward. Maintaining a guard stance the entire time, Sora stood up slowly as he noticed Riku moving forwards out of the corner of his eye. With an imperceptible nod, Riku signalled the attack, but they had just begun to move when the vampiress exploded into a blur of peremptory action.

Static shocks caused their hands to reflexively jerk open, letting blades drop to the ground as a sudden storm of blows left them covered with small bruises. Suddenly stopping, she waved their weapons at them reprovingly.

"That simply won't do," the vampiress said, voice fluid like molten plasma, "If you're going to play then you'll simply have to try harder. One more chance, and then I'll have to start trying."

Casually tossing their weapons back to them, she bent her knees and seemed to be poised to strike as a silver thunderbolt came hurtling down from one of the trees.

* * *

Sephiroth hurtled out of the tree, moving so fast he could barely see what was around him. As his blade slammed into something solid, he realized that his target had moved just fast enough to bend his legs and absorb the shock of his impact. Straightening up, he looked at the vampiress, singularly unimpressed by what he had seen so far. Flicking his wrists surreptitiously he smirked at the blond before hurling the pair of knives he kept up his sleeves for emergencies at her jugular with deadly accuracy. Snapping his fingers, he called a bolt of lightning together in the wake of the blades before they had even left his fingertips.

Slender hands moved with lightning speed and batted the long silver blades out of the air, only to be struck by an electrical charge, that travelled along both arms and reached the heart with a strength that would drop even a vampire for a few seconds. Sephiroth gave a grim smile of satisfaction,

"You vampire scum never learn. With all the fuss, I thought you'd be slightly better than that."

The bolt of energy hovering in the air around her, hair crackling with static, and robes floating as if suspended in a storm, Larxene gave a smile as sweet as poison.

"As you wish."

The aura arced out and slammed into Sephiroth, the tingling aftermath of summoning lightning replaced with pain brought on by his own power.

* * *

Larxene smiled at the silver-haired man lying on the ground before her, his small involuntary twitches filling her daily requirement for sadistic amusement.

"You underestimate us greatly Sephiroth," she said with mock sadness, "Just because you were able to beat a pathetic fool with barely a century of growth you think you could take on an elder."

Her smile widened.

"Let's see if you've got what it takes to bring me down."

As Sephiroth got slowly to his feet and retrieved Manasume from where it was buried in the ground, she dropped into the same stance as before, filling Sora and Riku with the conviction that this was simply the calm before the storm. They were right.

Charging forward, Sephiroth swung Manasume at an incredible speed, encasing the vampiress in what looked like a cage of steel as strokes darted from every single possible direction in one of his finest combos, one that had come very close indeed to actually killing Leonheart, even with vampiric healing.

As each and every blow was batted effortlessly out of the air, or caught, he began to think he might just be out of his depth. Just maybe.

Stopping suddenly, he clenched his hand and reopened it directed at her, the blast of fire it created distracting her just long enough for him to lift the weapons lying behind her with strings of magnetic energy and hurl them at her back. A wave of fatigue hit him just about the same time the blades cut through her robes as she spun past them. A second later, he was lying on the ground smoking, with lightning still crackling around him.

"Sephiroth dear," Larxene cackled delightedly, "They call it electromagnetism for a reason."

The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was a bolt of lightning headed towards him.

* * *

Roxas stood awkwardly on the porch, watching as the sun slowly sank below the horizon. His dad was off somewhere getting drunk, and so he had the house all to himself. As the shadows on the ground began to thicken, he shuddered and went back inside, deadlocking the door behind him. Sitting on the couch, he prepared to wait out the night, hoping that Axel would be somehow unable to find him.

After his confusing dismissal by the red-head that morning he had found his thoughts drifting more and more often towards the possibility that this would be the shape of his life from now on, waiting in dread all day before writhing in ecstasy at night.

A sudden noise caused him to flinch violently, half expecting that his thoughts had summoned up the vampire. Moving slowly and cautiously towards the door, he cringed as he heard the drunken tones of his father. From experience, he guessed this was going to be painful.

* * *

Larxene looked down at the unconscious form of Sephiroth contemptuously before turning to stare at Riku and Sora.

"Two little mice, " she cackled, "Coming out to play with the big, bad cat."

Licking the edge of an electrified kunai absentmindedly, a cruel smile spread across her face.

"What to do with the poor little mice," she said thoughtfully, stepping closer. "Roast them? Boil them alive? Skin them?"

As her hand closed around Riku's throat and she smilingly raised the crackling blade, a sudden wave of water blasted her to one side.

"How about not?" came a mellow voice as the water joined together to form a familiar form.

"Demyx," Larxene hissed, "How dare you interfere."

"Larxene I am all too aware that you do not fear me or the Schemer, foolish though that bravery is," the musician said calmly, "But I doubt that challenging the Flurry is high on your to do list." He took a threatening step forward as the water on the ground swirled and hissed. "This is his territory, and all of us who dwell here do so only on his tolerance."

A roll of thunder sounded as a literal wall of water slammed down upon the clearing, forcing Riku and Sora to the ground and bending Larxene almost double under its weight. Sea green eyes deep and cold, Demyx loomed over her, the water seeming to fall into and through him as he seemed to tower above her.

"I will not have you risking that tolerance."

Sitar suddenly in tanned hands where it wasn't a second ago, a rippling chord heralded the swirl and hiss of the water as it rolled like the tide into a sphere surrounding Larxene. The hiss of the mighty sphere seemed to meld with his words as he spoke one word, booming like the waves crashing against the shore.

"UNDERSTAND?"

A pulse of lightning flared through the water, causing Demyx to hiss in pain as Larxene raised her head, sodden blonde hair hanging lank in front of deadly pale blue eyes.

"I don't take orders from the likes of you."

A hand wrapped around her throat with crushing strength as the Melodious Nocturne crossed the space between them at a speed rivalling her own, the water lifting into the air as he did so.

"Don't you ever," he snarled, "Speak to me like that again."

With a swirling crash the mass of water slammed down to earth, and when the torrent finally subsided, he was gone.

Off to one side, Sephiroth slowly blinked and pulled himself to his feet, leaning on Manasume. Raising their weapons, Riku, Sora and he exchanged solemn nods, then charged.

* * *

As his father finally finished fumbling around with the key and pulled the door open, he looked down at Roxas disgustedly.

"You filthy little brat," he shouted, "How dare you try and lock me out."

Stepping forward, he punched Roxas in the face, then began kicking him spitefully in the ribs as he collapsed on the ground.

He took a few steps into the house and kicked his son once more into the ribs for good measure before shutting the door.

Grabbing Roxas by the front of his shirt, he began to slap him, knocking him around until eventually the blond woke up. Smacking him in the face twice more, his father looked at him angrily before pulling out a knife. This time, the little shit had gone too far. Driving the blade into his sons shoulder, Cloud smiled coldly before turning around at the creak of a floorboard.

Burning emerald eyes narrowed, as the air around their owner shimmered with heat, and the floor began to blacken and char, filling the air with the smell of smoke.

"Strife," Axel growled, cigarette bursting into flames, "I suggest you drop the boy right now."

* * *

So, worth the wait?

Can't wait to hear what you have to say, so please review and tell me.

Many thanks to my fabulous beta Mika the Rainbow Vampire (formerly Malik's Bunny Mika), who didn't give up on me as I struggled to get this chapter does.

Hoping you're all well.

Azrael


	9. Consequences

A.N: Hey guys, here is the new chapter, and hopefully I haven't taken too long. I hope you enjoy, and will hopefully update again within the next month.

Warnings: Violence, violence, violence, sexual references, character death.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. Square Enix does.

* * *

Moving forward, Sephiroth swung Manasume in a wide arc, as Riku and Sora ducked underneath and split to come at Larxene from both sides. As a pair of short-swords whistled through the air towards her, the vampiress swirled out of the way, dodging both before being impaled by a carefully-timed stab from Manasume. Short-swords hacked at her in identical arcs and managed to nick her on the shoulder and cheek.

The vampiress looked down at the blood trickling down her skin and snarled, eyes virtually incandescent with rage as she licked the wounds and they closed rapidly, skin rapidly knitting itself back together. Static sizzled into existence around her, as multiple bolts of lightning arced out towards Sephiroth, Sora and Riku.

The two younger boys dropped and rolled, moving far enough forward to avoid the crackling bolts, as Sephiroth reversed his personal gravity enough to leap right over the lightning. Spinning into a somersault in mid air, Sephiroth pulled a selection of knives from various hidden pockets before hurling them at Larxene one-handed, before landing at her feet.

Letting his leg crumple under him, he landed in a half-crouch, one leg still extended with the blunt side of Manasume placed against his boot. Taking the residual momentum of his somersault, he let himself spin on the crouching leg, the blade accelerating sharply as the force of his spinning kick added to the momentum of the blow.

The blade sliced through Larxene's arm at the elbow, the black-robed arm falling to the floor with a blade still clutched in its hand. Larxene looked at them in furious disbelief, her rising anger threatening to cloud her judgement even further. As she clenched a kunai in her remaining hand so hard her knuckles whitened, the muscle and bone writhed, extruding filaments and fibres that begun to reweave her arm.

Focused on Sephiroth, Larxene never saw Sora and Riku's twin strikes coming. As a pair of blades sliced open her carotid arteries, she screamed in pain and flipped backwards, blood sparking as it flowed from her neck. Straightening slowly and painfully, her eyes went cold, fury giving way to cold implacable anger.

Sephiroth took a deep breath, warning Sora and Riku,

"She's very dangerous now. She's angry, but not recklessly, and she's ready for us now. Its her or us, so be ready to kill."

As they exchanged grim nods, Larxene suddenly screamed and began to spasm on the ground, jerking around like she was having an epileptic fit. As they tightened their grips on their weapons, they watched carefully for signs of deceit, and Sephiroth had a sudden feeling of realization as he saw wisps of dark smoke around Larxene out of the corner of his eye. His lip curled angrily.

"Zexion..."

* * *

Larxene blinked, looking around rapidly, disoriented by the sudden disappearance of the bastards who had just dared to injure her. All she could see was the swirling wind and flashing lightning of a storm, but oddly enough, she felt even more at home than she usually would in the heart of a tempest. That was when it hit her: **she was inside her own head!** As she began to put together the implications of that thought, the raging storm slowed slightly around her, as rage gave way to contemplation.

"Well, well, well..."

A smooth, dark voice came, as a dark shadow began to spread through the storm. "How extraordinarily predictable."

Suddenly the darkness swirled, coalescing into a familiar form, slate hair fluttering in an unseen wind as the lightning picked up on violet highlights. Black eyes gleamed with cold anger as the Schemer stared unflinchingly into her vicious eyes.

The storm began to flare, lightning sizzling and scorching through the sky to strike at the dark smoke of Zexion's mind. He smirked, and raised a hand, the darkness welling up around them and blotting out the sky.

"Your storms may rule the skies Larxene," he said cruelly, "But in here, I control the world and everything in it."

Suddenly, a blade came flying towards her, following her as she tried to duck, and impaled her in the shoulder, the unfamiliar feeling of pain coursing through her as the wound refused to heal. She screamed suddenly, as the metal dissolved into acid and began to slowly and painfully seep through her veins as Marluxia appeared to stand over her, using his scythe to perform the vampiric version of the death of a thousand slices.

"I'm going to let you out of here to finish playing your little 'game'," Zexion said, "But you're going to leave with slightly less assistance than you had coming in."

* * *

Larxene's eyes snapped open, the sight of Sephiroth moving swiftly but cautiously towards her the first thing to meet them. She flipped onto her feet, then swayed and nearly fell as she tried to move instantly into a knife-hand thrust that he dodged with ease. Feeling a disturbing lack of her normal grace, she suddenly realized that a sharp metallic pain was coming from under her ribs.

She looked down to see the handle of a knife sticking out of her flesh, and a wound that wasn't healing faster than it was inflicted, and no biting chill of silver to explain the mystery. She took a deep breath in to try to catch a scent that would reveal how he felt, and hopefully what he would do next, and the sudden absence of a sense she had relied on for centuries threw her composure enough that another blow got through.

Riku's small silver razor-edged crucifix buried itself in her arm, and as the silver began to sting she could almost see Zexion's evil smile as the crucifix burned her, like she was some sort of half-breed lower-caste Hollywood vampire. She hissed angrily, though the naive bastards probably thought it was in religiously-inspired pain, and attempted to hook the teenagers leg before realizing something: her normally perfect balance was shot.

In fact, she felt weak, and clumsy, and to her emerging horror - human. As her eyes widened with the terror of that realization she put together what the Schemer had meant. Sending her back less than she was before? Well, stripping away her vampiric advantages certainly accomplished that.

Perhaps her constant disdain for the others over the centuries had been foolish. After all, it had taken almost everything she had to muster the energy to shock Demyx, and his partner had just done something every one of the others had always assured her was impossible.

She pulled herself out of that train of thought just in time to pull back enough that the brunette's short-sword only got her chin, and not her jugular. Damn, she thought, that was too close, as she flipped gracelessly backwards in an attempt to get some distance. It was all becoming too much.

Larxene snarled, this entire situation infuriating her beyond measure. As her thoughts passed over the various irritants involved, they eventually settled upon the most infuriating one of all. Zexion. Static crackled into life around her as she became so angry she couldn't consciously notice the fact that her lightning hadn't gone the way of her other vampiric gifts.

The lightning crackled and roiled, before Sephiroth swiftly closed an outspread hand, a wave of water following his movements as it closed around her. That was the last she noticed before her universe dissolved into pain. And then?

Sweet black oblivion.

* * *

Sephiroth looked at Larxene's crumpled body disdainfully, the water around her still sparking and crackling curiously. He felt oddly reluctant to approach the blackened body, but knew that it was better to be safe than sorry. Gesturing for Riku and Sora to stay back, he made his way over, palming a silver knife as he went.

Glad they were going to be spared this, he waited until they were looking away before swiftly slicing into her chest and butchering her shrivelled heart, just to ensure she didn't come back, then left the silver knife embedded in her heart, moving her robes to hide it.

He looked up from the grizzly work just in time to notice Sora's cry of alarm at the orange glow coming from somewhere in the town.

"Riku," Sora cried, "That looks like its near Roxas' house!"

Sephiroth's eyes widened as he was struck with a sinking sensation of dread.

Flurry of Dancing **Flames** indeed.

* * *

Cloud growled, staring at Axel with unreasoning rage burning in his eyes. Pupils elongated as blue eyes slowly swirled into murky gold. A fist swung towards the vampire as Cloud moved forward so fast that Roxas' pain-filled eyes were barely able to follow. Axel seemed to blur, and Cloud's fist passed through where he was standing before slamming into the wall and dislodging several bricks. As Roxas gaped at his father's barely human strength, Axel smirked brutally.

"I should have known," the vampire snarled, "The smell should have warned me if nothing else, Spawn of the Lion."

As Cloud gave a furious roar and attempted to strike Axel, the vampire simply blocked the fist with his forearm, causing it to shatter with a loud crunch. Taking a deep breath, nostrils flared with anger, Axel smiled evilly before exhaling a sheet of flame that slammed into Cloud, filling the air with the smell of scorching flesh.

Cloud lunged out of the lingering plumes of ash and smoke, launching himself forward in an attempt to head butt Axel, only to meet a punch to the cheek that split his lip open. A burning hot hand closed around his throat, and he screamed as best he could as his vocal chords started to sizzle and char. Blood dripped into his mouth, and his eyes went wide.

"Oh shit," Axel swore, "Roxas, get the hell out of here." As the blond gazed at him in confusion he shouted, "NOW!"

Cloud spasmed in his grip, eyes flickering as the murky gold darkened into a deep red, his teeth extending into sharp points. Nails extended into talons as muscles lengthened and swelled across his body. Axel cursed as he hurled Cloud effortlessly backwards.

The blond spun around and ran at him, lashing out with long talons that met only air as a fist slammed into his back. With a loud roar, a ring of fire exploded into life around them.

* * *

Sora ran, his lover and Sephiroth loping along beside him. Desperately gasping in air, he ignored the burning in his legs, struggling to maintain the punishing pace he had set. As they made their way swiftly through the neighbourhood's backyards, they arrived at Roxas's place just in time to hear an inhuman cry of fury and the roar of igniting flames.

The brunette ran towards the door, calling up energy as he went and releasing a gravitational sledgehammer that smashed the door to pieces. Sephiroth gave him an approving glance as they moved forward, through the door and into the house, feet making as little noise as possible as they moved cautiously, clinging to every shadow.

As they reached the door of the living room, Sora frowned, puzzled by the sound of a vaguely familiar voice. Exchanging glances with Sephiroth and Riku, he reached out slowly, turning the handle before opening the door on a scene of total chaos.

* * *

Axel snarled, holding Cloud's outstretched talons away from his face one-handed, the other hand frantically trying to land one good blow. Fire swirled around them, as the vampire smelt Roxas running away, and finally released the restraints he was putting on his power.

He disappeared in a burst of flames, causing Cloud to stumble forward, slightly singed, even as a flash beneath him warned him of the red-head's whereabouts to late for him to block. Reaching downwards, he managed to get a grip on Axel's throat before slamming him against the wall, the redhead deceptively easy to hit.

Axel inhaled deeply before breathing out a cloud of ash and red-hot cinders in the blond's face, and then disappeared in another flicker as the wall behind him exploded outwards. From across the room he heard a disbelieving murmur as the blond vampire turned around, and took advantage of its implications, burning into existence behind Cloud and tackling him forward, before disappearing into a puff of smoke.

* * *

Sephiroth stared at the face of a man he had though dead and lost to him years ago, heart clenching painfully at the memories of all he had lost.

"Cloud..." He murmured longingly, before being cut off by a cruel laugh that reminded him of how much his lover had changed.

"Sephiroth?" Cloud asked with a mocking smile stretched across his face, revealing his prominent canines, "What on earth are you doing with my son?"

He nodded at Sora, and Sephiroth's brow furrowed in confusion. He had thought this man, now revealed to be Cloud, to be Roxas's father.

"No, no, never mind answering," The blond said with a mocking smile, "I'm sure I would have gotten to **know** Sora better were he a bit older, son or not."

Sephiroth stared at him angrily, hardly able to believe that this _creature_ was a man he had once loved and respected.

"Cloud," he said, voice cold and harsh, "I don't know you anymore. You are no longer a part of my life or my heart."

The silverette raised Manasume.

"Now, get out of here before I'm forced to slit your throat."

A huge explosion of fire burst into existence around Cloud, clinging and burning, as waves of hot air slammed into him from all sides. Ashes and embers spiralled around him before striking him as a large wheel-like weapon slammed into his chest.

"That won't be necessary, Sephiroth," came a voice that none of them recognized, a pair of green eyes staring at them from the centre of the flames. "Though I must thank you for distracting Strife long enough for me to finish him. It's been a pleasure meeting you. Goodbye."

The flames vanished, leaving only a small pile of ashes on the carpet as Sephiroth stood in the centre of the room, his face stony.

"Come on you two," he said, "We still have to find Roxas."

* * *

Well? Loved it? Hated it? Drop me a line and tell me what you think.

Many thanks as usual to my faithful beta.


	10. Halloween

A.N.: I'm back! Terribly sorry about the long absence, several of my friends have been going through pretty tough times lately, and its been hard to find the time or heart to write. Still, here it is at last, the chapter that bridges between this arc of the story, and the Roxas-and-Axel-have-hot-kinky-sex arc that is coming up. I may go quiet again for a while, but please don't give up on me. Real life sometimes gets in the way. Thank you for sticking with me.

Warnings: Lack of length, ambiguity, half-naked Demyx and Marluxia.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts 2 or anything associated. They all belong to Square Enix. As does Final Fantasy. The song "Hellfire", from the Hunchback of Notre-Dame, belongs to Disney.

Enjoy.

* * *

Roxas lay sprawled on Sora's sofa, a book lying half open against his stomach. It was yet another book he had already finished, as his virtual imprisonment for the last month had left him little else to do. Unable to leave the house unless in Sephiroth's company or to go to school, he had devoured every book in the house and so was reduced to sitting around on the sofa staring at the ceiling.

Or, so his brother and Sephiroth believed. After the first few days of frustration, and the news that a Halloween party would be organised by the town council, Roxas had began to spirit away bits and pieces of time, as well as fabric, and had begun putting together a costume. A fair hand with a needle after the constant repairs his father's beatings had necessitated, the blond felt sure that no one would recognize him, least of all his jailors.

A small smile on his face, Roxas settled down and closed his eyes, and gradually began to drift off to sleep. Hovering in the moment between awareness and sleep, he heard the faint sound of the front door opening, and Sephiroth's measured footsteps. The stairs creaked, and then he heard a faint whisper, deep and calm. Sephiroth.

"How is he?"

Sora's voice, high pitched and ringing even when soft, came next.

"Better than he was."

"Should we tell him?"

That was Riku's voice, Roxas recognized, and wondered what he was talking about.

"No."

Sephiroth's voice came out sounding more like an order than anything else.

"He has enough to deal with recovering from his captivity without learning that his captor might be in town again soon."

Roxas's heart skipped a beat. Axel was going to be in the town. The threat the vampire had made before they parted rang again in his ears, sending shivers down his spine. The vampire had beaten him, raped him, and then killed Cloud, who was still his father if not a good one. He was callous, cruel, sadistic and a remorseless killer.

So why, Roxas wondered, did he feel a quiver of exitement at the thought of Axel's return.

* * *

Fireworks exploded into life in the sky above, loud concussive booms shaking the town. In the moments in between, Roxas moved in the shadows, escaping from the house, where he had been left without a minder, except for Sephiroth, who was reading upstairs. Letting the noise cover his movements, Roxas quickly made it to the backdoor, before escaping out into the garden.

Pulling his costume from its hiding place behind the shed, he quickly applied his makeup using the light flashing of the windows to see. Now ready to go out and join the party, he jumped over the fence that had always seemed so high before, and was out on the street and lost in a mass of faces, masks and creatures.

Hands and bodies surrounded him, as vampires, werewolves, serial killers, ghosts, ghouls, wights, and costumed people of all stripes swirled and milled around in the street. Letting the croud carry him towards the town square, where the party was being held, Roxas took it all in with wide-eyed wonder. His father had never let him come to the yearly Halloween party before, and he had never regretted that more than he did now.

* * *

"CITIZENS!"

The mayor's voice boomed out impressively, echoing through the square.

"Tonight, Traverse Town is no more. For this night, this single night every year, we celebrate our good fortune and scare each other to remind ourselves that we are a community."

Roxas smiled at the ridiculous speech the mayor was making, his clockwork hat bobbing to emphasize his words. The croud was cheering and yelling, and he felt like a part of something larger than himself, basking in the merriment that filled the air.

"My friends, THIS IS HALLOWEEN!"

He pulled a rope attached to a large black drape and it came loose to reveal a large sign with the words "Halloween Town" and a skeleton man in a suit wearing a pumpkin crown. A roar of approval rose from the crowd and the party properly begun.

Applebobbing was happening on every corner, mulled wine and apple cider being sold by hawkers parked wherever there was empty space, loud techno music was pumping out of the stereos and swarms of people were flocking towards the houses with lights on and pumpkin lanterns lit.

Roxas walked slowly around, lost in the wonder and splendour of it all. Familiar faces were everywhere; he saw Tidus sneaking up behind Olette and Pence, two distant figures who looked like Sora and Riku, the entire tribe of Riku's cousins all dressed identically. He even saw two of his teachers, Yuffie and Aerith, wandering around the place dressed as a ninja and a princess respectively.

A glimpse of red hair, and he turned swiftly, eyes searching the crowd for green eyes, only to realize that it had been a stranger he had seen. Looking once more just in case, he turned back around only to slam into a large frame. The ground zoomed up towards him at an alarming pace before he hit it with a loud thud.

More angry than hurt, Roxas rolled over and brushed the dust of his costume before turning around to give the stranger a piece of his mind, only to stop before he could even begin. Hollow olive eyes stared down at him from the center of a pale face framed by greying pink-brown hair. Black robes swirled in the wind as blood seeped from hundreds of tiny cuts left by a harness of leather and rose briars.

The blond gulped and quickly walked away, avoiding eye contact before becoming lost in the crowd. As he moved with the crowd of people, Roxas began to hear unearthly strains of music wafting through the air, as the crowd spread out and he was thrust into a gap between two people on the edge.

Sitting contentedly on the same steps, strumming the same sitar, was Demyx. Hair sopping wet, skin pale and translucent as though he had drowned, he sat there, a ridge of fins along his back waving in the wind. The webs between his fingers didn't seem to be impairing his playing, and his vest was open down near his abdomen, revealing gill slits down his sides. Noticing Roxas, the vampire began to sing.

"Like fire, hellfire, this fire in my skin. This burning, desire, is turning me to sin."

If the sitarist was singing about fire, and there was one vampire about, then there could be more, which meant that...

"Hello Roxas. Have you enjoyed your reprieve?"

He turned around, and he locked gazes with blazing emerald eyes.

"Axel."

* * *

Well? What did you think? Drop me a line and let me know?

Also, I'm opening up a competition - guess where the story is going.

Winners will have chapters dedicated to them.

Many apologies again for both the lateness, and the shortness of this chapter.

Azrael


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